Church of Our Lady of Kyriotissa

View from the south.

The Church of Our Lady of Kyriotissa was located in Constantinople at the easternmost stretch of the Valent Aqueduct . It was built on the site of Roman baths and two churches of the VI – VII centuries at the end of the reign of Komninov (late XII century). Sultan Mehmed II, who captured Constantinople, attributed the church to one of the sects of the dervishes , at whose disposal it remained until the XVIII century, when it was turned into a mosque of Calenderhan .

Repeated earthquakes and fires forced the authorities to undertake the “restoration” of the monument in 1854, during which the side naves and choirs were dismantled. After the collapse of the minaret in the 1930s. the mosque was abandoned for some time, which allowed for a scientific restoration, which led to the discovery of a fresco depicting the Virgin Mary of Kyriotissa . This was the end of a long debate about the initial consecration of the church.

The porch and the minaret are later introductions, unlike many interior features, among which the only mosaic of the pre-Martyr period (depicting the Meeting ) and murals of the 13th century with scenes from the life of St. Francis of Assisi (the oldest version of the plot, now in the historical museum of Istanbul).